When The Moon Rises
by A Seagull Among Songbirds
Summary: Jake, lonely and bored without Rose, stumbles across someone that is slowly reshaping his life and himself. However, not everyone is happy for Jake's newfound happiness. Chapters being re-done!
1. Miss Frau

Hey all! I was looking through my profile the other day when I noticed my long forgotten story, so I decided to read it! Geez, why didn't anyone tell me I was that bad? I'm feeling kinda ashamed of my crappy writing skills now, do I'm gonna re-write "When The Moon Rises". Yep, that's right, from the very start. You'll find that some of the details have been changed to make it more real, and that there are some minor plot changes so things work out smoother. Well, enjoy!

(remember _italics_ = Jake's thoughts and this story is set after the last episode)

* * *

In a large auditorium, a crumpled piece of paper bounced of the back of a head, then fell to the floor. A wrinkled teacher whirled around, trying to catch whoever had interrupted her enjoyment of the lecture. But the students behind her were listening with rapt attention to the lecture on other people's feelings and how to respect them. Convinced she had just nodded off for a bit and imagined the bump, the teacher turned back to the lecture.

Immediately cell phones were pulled back out, magazines retrieved from where they had been stuffed, and electronic games began their quiet beeping sounds again.

"Dude!" Someone hissed. "That was too close!"

"Yeah, don't blow it for the rest of us!" Another voice murmured angrily.

"Come on! That was the best one yet, perfect bulls-eye!" A teen in a red jacket said. "Just one more!

"Jake, come on!" The girl next to him had all but snapped. For six hours now she had been forced to sit next to a noisy boy who kept getting everyone in trouble. Worst of all, he got her pager confiscated! Not only was she sick of this lecture, she was sick of him!

Giving up, Jake sat back in the poorly cushioned seats. Everyone in his grade was going through a hellish rite of passage, for a week a speaker would come in for the entire school day and speak the annual lecture about morals and respect and blah, blah, blah…

It was driving him crazy!

There was only _so much_a person could text and read magazines or comic books behind a teachers back without getting said objects taken away or the general experience of being a delinquent wore off. And they were only two days into the speech! The worst part was Jake's two best friends, Trixie and Spud, were seated no where near him. On the first day of the lecture, they could sit wherever they wanted, but there was too much talking, so everyone got split up. Then cell phones were taken away. Jake lost his the first day the lecture started. So much for texting everyone.

Resigning himself to hours more of monotone taking, Jake sat back and closed his eyes.

* * *

When Jake finally got out of school, he did what he normally did. Hung out with Trixie and Spud, skated home, ate, skated to his grandpa's shop, did his dragon training and/or dragon duties, skateed home, ate, wentto bed, woke up, went to school.

This pattern was never-ending, except on weekends and school breaks. Thank goodness after the week of lectures was over, spring vacation started and Jake had two and a half weeks of fun time with Trixie and Spud to look forward to.

Of course, he also had increased dragon duties to look forward to.

It wasn't that Jake didn't like his dragon duties, no, actually, he liked them. They were good for all sorts of things, like an excuse as to why he couldn't go to his younger sister's dance recital (Things were so much easier now that his dad knew he was the American Dragon), they sometimes were amazing adventures, and it was just nice to run around as a dragon for a bit.

Bad things came out of his dragon duties too. Every night he came home tired and dirty, sometimes injured, he had to cut time out of talking to Rose on the phone, and hanging out with his friends became hard because he couldn't schedule anything after seven at night! He even had to skip a once-in-a-lifetime music concert because a bunch of rouge giant leeches had invaded the forest the pixies lived in, and _he_ was the one who had to deal with the leeches and angry pixies, and clean up the mess. You'd think him being the American Dragon would grant him a little more respect, but apparently not.

So after he was done talking to Spud and Trixie, he went home like he always did.

Jake greeted his dad at the door, yelled at Haley for eating the last of the cereal, and begged with his mother to try and get his phone back (he had his phone taken away at home too because his mother had to go get it from the detention room after he had it confiscated), and sat down on the couch.

It seemed as soon as he sat down and finished his granola bar, it was time to go to dragon training.

* * *

"The Fairy Delivery Service is running behind, and I offered for you to pick up the slack. Here is a rather important message that needs to be delivered to Miss Frau concerning the income of her store in the leprechaun village." Jake's grandpa, Lao Shi, said.

"Alright gramps, give me a minute." Jake grumbled as he stretched his muscles, preparing for the change that made him and most of his family famous in the magical community.

"Make sure it's delivered on time."

"When does it have to be delivered by?"

Lao Shi looked up at the clock.

"Five minutes."

Swearing under his breath, Jake grabbed the scroll from his grandfather's hands, dashed out the back door and jumped into the air. In a split second, scrawny legs and arms became muscular and scaly, fingers became claws, and teeth became harder and sharper than a railroad spike.

Miss Frau did not like to be kept waiting.

* * *

"Late! Late! You dragon, you say you fast, yes? Then why you here late?!" Miss Frau was _boiling_ mad that Jake had been late ten minutes, especially when the message concerned her precious leprechaun-run store. The old and grouchy elf that preferred to live alone atop an even older church in in the lest crowded part of the city was never very nice to Jake when he came around. He supposed it was because he couldn't understand her accent the first time he met her, and had to ask for directions over and over.

"I'm sorry Miss Frau, there was some troub-"

"Trouble!? Trouble?! I give you trouble! Out! Out!" And with that, Miss Frau slammed her elf-sized steel-toed boots onto Jake's tail and walked into the bell tower that was her home.

Jake yelped and flew quickly to a darker roof. He stuck his head out form the shadow of a chimney and looked around. It seemed like no one saw or heard them, which was surprising, considering how much noise Miss Frau was making. Sitting back to nurse his bruised tail, Jake sighed. He really didn't mean to make her mad, but it was very hard to cross the entire city and not be seen by everyone! Seriously, if he could just fly out in the open, he could have been there with time to spare. But no, to protect the secret of the existence of the magical community, he had to fly in the shadows of buildings and sometimes even hop from rooftop to rooftop to avoid being seen.

Giving up hope for his aching tail, Jake rolled over and stretched out. He really should be getting back to the shop. There probably was tons more mail that needed to be delivered, and here he was lazing around. But he had been working so hard, for very long, in fact, his last break from school _and _dragon duties was about two months ago, when Lao Shi had gotten antsy and decided to do the work for the night. Jake had spent the night talking over the phone to Rose, his girlfriend that had moved to Hong Kong.

_Dad was pretty ticked over the long-distance phone bill. But still, it was nice to hear her voice again._

Jake's eyelids dropped dangerously low as he imagined himself and Rose together again. Maybe they could go sit on a bench in the park, yes, that would be nice. Or they could go out to eat…

He heard a crunch of gravel. Jake's eyes flew open.

_What? Where am I?_

Jake was completely surrounded by darkness. And it was deathly silent. Jumping up, Jake listened warily.

"Miss Frau? Is that you?" Jake called out to the dark.

O-okay, I'm completely freaked out right now… You can come out!" Still no answer.

_This is weird. _

Shaking out his wings and preparing for a surprise, Jake braced himself.

"Hello? Anyone? Is there any- agghh!"

Jake thrashed about on the roof a bit before pausing and righting himself.

_Oh, just a dream._

He looked around again to make sure no one had seen his embarrassing display, especially Miss Frau, who would never let him hear the end of it.

"How long did I sleep?" Jake looked at the sky. He could barley see the stars over the lighted city, but still stars meant night. And the streetlights were on.

"Damn." They turned the streetlights on at eight-thirty in the spring.

_Gramps is gonna kill me. Either that or he's worried sick about where am. _

Jake though for a second.

_Nope, he's going to kill me._

_

* * *

_

Taking his time and slowly flying from shadow to shadow, Jake idly wondered what he was going to do tomorrow.

_Probably the same thing as today._

Jake heaved another heavy sigh. Sometimes life got a little boring. Oh well, he had no right to complain.

As his tail brushed lightly against a tree, Jake noticed he was over the park. He had always loved this park. It seemed so big, no matter how you looked at it.

_Wait, what was that?_

Jake landed on a branch of a tree and listened.

_There, right there. _

He heard roaring! Roaring meant a fight! Fights mean _excitement!_

Jake launched himself so fast towards the noise he broke the branch right off the tree.

* * *

In the morning park monitors wondered why a perfectly healthy limb of a perfectly healthy tree lay shattered on the ground.

"How did this happen?" Wondered one monitor, clearly amazed.

"Darn kids." Grumbled the other monitor.

Another monitor just shook his head.

"How in the _world_ did kids yank down an oak branch thirty feet off the ground?"

"Remember the time the gang of hooligans down the corner spray-painted the entire monument boulder lime green? This is nothing compared to that."

The others considered this.

"Oh. Well, okay, let's hurry up and pick this thing up, I'm hungry."

"There's a new restaurant near Paulie's. We could go there."

"After we file a police report on these troublemakers."

"Exactly"

* * *

You like? Please tell me if you saw any grammar or spelling errors so I can fix them. I know it's short, but bear with me.

Please feel free to discuss the chapter with me, how you felt, what you like, what you didn't like, etc. I am open to everything. Questions, comments, concerns, anything of the sort. Flames, however, will be used to warm my stony heart.

Reviews are appreciated!

Lots of Love- ASAS


	2. Newcomer

Hey all! Here's the next installment of When The Moon Rises. Also…

**T-65X: **Thank you for your review! I blame the improvement entirely on my English teacher, who graded my essays with a passion and many red pens.

**Yuul:** Thank you! I'm going to try and make it better, and more believable. (In the magic world, at least)

* * *

_Wait, what was that?_

Jake landed on a branch of a tree and listened.

_There, right there. _

He heard roaring! Roaring meant a fight! Fights mean _excitement!_

Jake launched himself so fast towards the noise he broke the branch right off the tree.

* * *

Skimming along the tops of the trees at top speed, Jake listened for more sounds of a struggle. Hearing none, he slowed and landed on the ground in a small clearing.

Suddenly, the trees behind him cracked and fell forward. Leaping out of the way, he fell onto the hard ground and was promptly squished by something very heavy and disgusting. Not only was the weight of the object overwhelming him, it smelled atrocious, an indescribable scent that left Jake gagging. The American Dragon panicked, and started to claw at what whatever was crushing him. Ignoring the large flakes of something falling down onto his face which just might have been dead skin, he dragged himself out from underneath what turned out to be the very large foot of a very large troll.

Still gasping for air, and not believing he made it out without suffering serious injury, Jake crouched down into his fighting position and waited for the beast to charge. Only it didn't. It wasn't even facing the right way!

Taking advantage of the creature's confusion, Jake took a spilt second to size up his foe. It was a troll, at least, it looked like one. It was insanely larger than any troll he had ever seen, and much sturdier. It was wearing a very large troll-fashioned helmet and troll armor, and beneath it's tattered clothing Jake could see the glint of sharp metal. If he could just blind it, maybe he could take it down quickly…

Leaping into the air with his powerful hind legs, Jake slammed into the back of the troll's head. The troll seemed to hear Jake rather than feel him, the collision of Jake's claws against the metal helmet made a loud banging noise. Jake was amazed. His weight hadn't budged the troll at all, it felt like hitting a rock wall! But something had to be done to take it down. Jake reached around to claw at its face, and kicked it as hard as he could in the back of the neck, where the helmet didn't cover it. This caused the troll to swing it's arms around wildly, and fall face first onto the dirt with a grunt. Jake, still perched on the troll's gigantic head, looked up after the dry dirt cleared…

And found himself face-to-face with another dragon.

Jake blinked owlishly. The other dragon blinked back.

"Uh, hi… My name is Ja-" But he didn't have time to finish his greeting, the troll stirred from beneath him and grabbed Jake with a meaty hand. Surprised, Jake froze. Not a good idea.

The troll squeezed Jake before throwing him violently through the air into a large tree, knocking the breath out of him and making him see stars. Jake sat there for a moment, fighting back the pain in his ribs and blinking back the spots in front of his eyes. When he had regained his breath, Jake looked around for the other dragon. It was currently dodging the stomps and punches the troll was throwing.

The other dragon, when he looked closer, had daintier limbs and a slightly smaller frame than him, leading him to believe she was female.

Jake's grandpa had once discussed the differences between male and female dragons with him once, to show how to defeat a fellow dragon in battle. Male dragons had, on average, more muscle mass than the average female dragon, so they typically won in battles of brute strength. But female dragons were almost always faster and more cunning than male dragons, and more likely to try to outsmart their opponent than face them head on. With female dragons, it was the best thing to watch your back and know where they were at all times. And for every dragon Jake had met, this advice held true. Be it his little sister or Sun Park, the Korean Dragon and his little sister's mentor .

Jake watched in pained awe as the female dragon tripped the giant troll by using herself as an obstacle, and then bit the creature on the leg when it tried to reach for support. Cringing, the dragon threw herself back and shook her head. Jake winced. If the creature smelled that bad, he couldn't imagine what it tasted like.

The female dragon had dull aqua colored scales, helping her blend into the spring night, while the spines running down her back were a darker shade of blue. Her wings looked big for her size, maybe she was a good aerial fighter?

Getting up while stifling a groan, Jake rushed over to help finish the battle. The troll was making a lot of noise with its battle cries and tree smashing, he hoped nobody heard them. Explaining why a section of the park was destroyed to a bunch of non-magical community members was something Jake did not want to do right now.

* * *

In a corporate office building across from the park, a custodian flipped the off switch on the vacuum he was using and took the headphones off his ears. He listened intently for a minute, then shrugged, turned up his music, and went back to work.

He was always heard the strangest of things around the park.

* * *

Hearing Jake move, the dragon swung her head towards him. Her eyes narrowed, she fanned her wings out and glared at him.

"What?" Now Jake was confused. Did he offend her by jumping into the fight? Well, he _was _the American Dragon, protector of New York City and all it's magical creatures. It was his _job_ to do stuff like jumping into fights, to play the knight in shining armor.

Still glaring, she started for him. She didn't even have time to make a second step before the troll behind her recovered form her previous attack and began to get up. Hearing the movement, she turned around, quickly leaped onto it's shoulder, and then onto its back, trying to knock the troll back down before it tried to smash her to bits again.

The troll thrashed around, trying to remove her from it's back, but it was no use. She had dug her claws into it, and it did not look like she was going to get tossed off anytime soon. With a start Jake noticed that the troll's was hand was reaching for it's side, grabbing the metallic object he had noticed earlier. It was a typical troll-made short sword, except for the fact it was _huge_.

"Look out!" Jake yelled to her.

Using his wings, he jumped into the air and slammed his tail down into the creature's head. Stunned, the troll wobbled, tilted, and slowly fell backwards with a snarl.

Yelping, the blue dragon quickly removed her claws from the creatures back and tried to escape getting crushed by the troll's bulk. As it fell, the troll swung it's sword around, the blade whistling through the night air.

Jake, still in the sky after his last attack, looked down, only to see the blue dragon be struck by the blade and slammed to back to earth. Yelling in concern for her, Jake tucked his wings in and dove towards the ground. The last thing he saw was the hilt of the sword flying towards his face… And then everything went black.

* * *

Chapter's done! You like? Don't worry, the chapters will get longer, this one's just a filler. I wanted to pack the all of the troll action into one chapter.

Hey, I have a question for you readers out there? Would you rather a.)have frequent-as-possible shortish chapters, or b.)have longer chapters but not quite as frequent? You chose, it really doesn't make much of a difference to me.

Feel free to discuss the chapter with me, how you felt, what you like, what you didn't like, etc. I am open to everything. If you see any spelling or grammatical errors, please tell me so I can improve! Questions, comments, concerns, anything of the sort are also welcome. Flames, however, will be used to warm my stony heart.

Reviews are appreciated!

Lots of Love- ASAS


	3. Bloody Mess

Why hello there everyone! I'm sorry for the wait, I (insert reasonable excuse here). But really, all of my English essays have been keeping me sick of typing.

Also, to all my reviewers, thank you! Your reviews are the manure to the growing sprouts that are my writing ambition!

---

Yelping, the blue dragon quickly removed her claws from the creature's back and tried to escape getting crushed by the troll's bulk. As it fell, the troll swung it's sword around, the blade whistling through the night air.

Jake, still in the sky after his last attack, looked down, only to see the blue dragon be struck by the blade and slammed to back to earth. Yelling in concern for her, Jake tucked his wings in and dove towards the ground. The last thing he saw was the hilt of the sword flying towards his face… And then everything went black.

--

Jake groaned. Claws dug into the ground as he shakily stood up and steadied himself.

_My head…_

His head hurt so bad he thought he was going to vomit. Jake's vision swam, then he saw double. Reaching up to his head, Jake felt something warm and sticky, and when he pulled his hand back there was blood darkening his scales.

For a few minutes Jake just sat there, forcing himself not to be sick and trying to keep himself conscious. His leg was also throbbing with pain, it hurt, but not anywhere close to the pain he was feeling in his head. When he could finally walk, Jake stumbled toward the edge of the park, knowing he had to get home to treat his wounds.

_Wait… Wasn't there something else? _

In his head, the image of a sword swooping towards him jogged his memory.

Looking back to where his attacker had fallen, the only thing Jake saw was a small crater, about the size of a giant, deadly, apparently vicious magical creature. But no troll.

_The dragon!_

Remembering how hard his ally had been hit, and with a sharp sword, no less, Jake panicked.

Stumbling over to where he had seen her fall, all he found was a smaller dent in the dry ground. Red covered the dirt and grass, and a small trail of blood went deeper into the park.

Jake was conflicted. Should he go home and alert his grandpa what had happened and get patched up, should he wait here, and follow the blood to the obviously wounded dragon?

_I wish Gramps were here._

Jake paused, wiped off the blood that was running into his eyes, and started to slowly follow the trail.

------

Jake, limping along the bloody trail, had finally quieted his gag reflex and was already assessing his injuries. The troll had bruised his entire body when it had stepped on him, that was painful enough, but Jake had also received a blow to the head, and when he fell, he must have landed on his leg wrong, because it felt sprained or fractured.

As the blood spots on the ground began to get closer and closer to each other, signaling that the dragon was slowing down, Jake wondered what he would do when he met up with the her. Did she speak English? She didn't respond when he was trying to help her in battle…

Snapping out of his pained thinking, Jake noticed the blood trail stop suddenly, right at his feet. Looking around in the clearing he had paused in, Jake sniffed the air, hoping to catch a scent. But it was no use. There was blood in his nose and the smell of car exhaust was the only thing Jake registered. Confused, Jake began to scan the sky for her, convinced she had taken off.

Without warning, Jake was shoved roughly onto the ground from behind, face-down and helpless.

He struggled in vain for a couple of moments, before he swung his tail up and around to knock whatever was on him off. He felt it connect with something, and the pressure on his back disappeared.

Jake jumped up, and immediately regretted it.

The pain was _terrible_.

Jake had put all his weight and jumped up on his bad leg, the pain made his ears ring and made him see sparks of whites in his eyes for a second.

And in that second, whatever had knocked him down in the first place had recovered, and was now standing on his stomach, growling fiercely.

When Jake recovered, the first thing he saw was the female dragon, heel digging into his side and claws at his throat.

---

Lao Shi paused, and the broom he was sweeping the shop floor stopped mid-stroke.

Fu Dog looked up from the pile of bills he was working on and looked at him, raising his eyebrow in question.

After a brief moment of silence, in which Fu Dog finally got Lao Shi's attention, the elderly dragon spoke.

"Sorry. I thought I heard something. It was nothing, though. Continue."

Shrugging, Fu Dog turned back to the papers.

---

Gasping for air, Jake looked into the dragon's eyes. They were an icy blue, but the thing that caught his attention the most was the fact that her eyes were exactly like cat's eyes, the pupil diamond-shaped instead of round.

The dragon growled again, a fearsome sound that started deep in her throat and rumbled it's way up.

"He-Hey…" Jake managed to murmur between gasps.

The dragon's eyes narrowed.

"Your heel is hurting me."

No response.

_Oh, so that's how it's gonna be. _

"Can you get off me now?" Jake said irritably. He was beginning to regret coming out here in the first place. Giant trolls and painful injuries were one thing, but ungrateful battle partners were another.

The blue dragon's claws were poking Jake now, right were his pulse was closest to the surface.

"What do you want?" Jake snapped. He had enough of this. Once again he lifted his tail up to knock her off, but as soon as he had it high enough in the air, all the energy drained from his body and he let it drop with a thunk.

Startled, the dragon flinched and tried to turn around to locate the source of the noise, but since she was balancing on Jake's stomach, she just slid ungracefully to the ground.

Jake sprung up and crouched into his battle stance, just becoming aware of the fact that maybe he should be wary of her, that maybe she wasn't one of the friendlier or tolerant dragons who just wanted to play.

As he watched her fall to the ground and take shuddering breaths, Jake observed her again while he was trying to ignore the blinding pain in his head.

Instead of spines running down her back, as he first thought, there was a streak of navy fur running from the top of her head to the tip of her tail, which was extremely long. Jake was a bit envious. He had always wanted a longer tail to smack enemies upside the head with, though he imagined a long tail would get in the way doing other things.

And her ankles seemed a bit skinny… Jake noted this fact in case he had to fight her later.

_Aim for the feet, and if she jumps, just try to keep her out of the air. Those wings _are_ perfect for high-speed flying. _

Fighting down his headache once again, Jake stumbled over to the blue dragon, hoping this wasn't going to turn into a fight. He was injured enough already, and he could feel exhaustion taking it's toll.

But Jake wouldn't have to worry about that. She lay on the ground, still gasping, and as Jake moved closer, he could see the reflection of blood on her side.

Alarmed now, Jake reached down to push away her wing that was partially hiding her wound.

_Oh shit…_

A long, deep slash ran along her left side, and it was still bleeding, even after the long standoff in the clearing. The cut split her scales up, and the dull blue of her body mixed with the red to make a sickening dark purple. Dry, dead grass clung to the half-clotted blood.

And as soon as Jake looked up from that injury, he was faced with a another. The wing he was holding had a slash in the webbing, marring the wings he was so curious about.

The dragon hissed beneath him, obviously in great pain. Jake realized he probably wasn't helping with all his fiddling with the wounds.

"Sorry!"

She let out another hiss, but she looked scared now. The fur along her back was raised, and her eyes were darting from his face to his claws to the trees lining the clearing and back again. Her head was still laying on the ground, but he could see her straining herself, trying to get back up.

And so Jake reacted as he usually did when faced with the universal signals of fear anfd stress from a friend.

He reached down and comforted her, stroking her neck friendlily.

But unlike the stray cats in the alley or his baby sister after hurting herself falling, she did not appreciate the comfort and contact. Instead of being grateful, she pushed herself up in awkward attempt to get him away and growled again.

Jake, feeling hurt from the rejection, decided to get back on track.

"Do you speak English?"

She growled weakly.

"I'll take that as a no."

Jake paused.

"Do you speak at all?" _Maybe she's a mute…_

She stared at him blankly, looking at him as if he were insane.

"Ah… Um, okay, I need to get my grandpa now… I, uh, can't feel my legs and… That cut looks pretty bad." Jake was beginning to sway side to side, feeling woozy from blood loss. If he passed out here, he couldn't help her or himself. Wiping the blood from his eyes again, Jake started to back away.

"Stay here. Stay. Do you understand?" Motioning to the ground as he turned away, Jake hoped that she was still there when he came back with help.

Limping as fast as he could into the trees, then climbing a tree and taking off, Jake flew off as fast as his wounds would allow him.

--

As the park monitors walked into the battleground of the troll and the two dragons early next morning, the only thing people could hear for blocks around was the exclamation of:

"Holy shit!"

----

You like?

Feel free to discuss the chapter with me, how you felt, what you like, what you didn't like, etc. I am open to everything. If you see any spelling or grammatical errors, please tell me so I can improve! Questions, comments, concerns, anything of the sort are also welcome. Flames, however, will be used to warm my stony heart.

Reviews are appreciated!

Lots of Love- ASAS


	4. First Impressions

An update! Le gasp! I know I'm a hypocrite, I say I hate it when people don't update, but I don't update myself. Forgive me? Anyway, enough of that.

_

* * *

_

"_Ah… Um, okay. I need to get my grandpa now… I, uh, can't feel my legs and… That cut looks pretty bad." Jake was beginning to sway side to side, feeling woozy from blood loss. If he passed out here, he couldn't help her or himself. Wiping the blood from his eyes again, Jake started to back away. _

"Stay here. Stay. Do you understand?" Motioning to the ground as he turned away, Jake hoped that she was still there when he came back with help.

Limping as fast as he could into the trees, then climbing a tree and taking off, Jake flew off as fast as his wounds would allow him.

* * *

Gasping from the exertion of sprinting and flying across the city with his many wounds, Jake stopped to catch his breath in the shadow of a building. He knew he could have just walked to his grandpa's shop in his human form, but his dragon form was much better for dealing with pain. If he changed now, he would probably pass out. His ankle was throbbing with sharp stabs and his body felt like one giant bruise. His head was swimming, and Jake knew that he had a concussion, at best.

Groaning, Jake looked around. He was so close to his grandpa's! He could make it. He had to help the other dragon!

With a sudden burst of energy, Jake leaped over a fence and limped through the alley that led to his grandpa's back door. Stopping at a dull red door, he jiggled the handle to break the lock, and fell inside.

"Jake!"

_Who is that? _Jake wondered, his vision was useless now, the only thing he could see was a blurry form above his own. As he writhed in pain from his awkward landing, he felt frantic hands on his muzzle and head.

"Jake what happened?!"

Ah, it was his grandpa! He could fix him. His grandpa could do anything.

"Jake, drink this!" Jake felt the rim of a glass bottle being pushed up against his mouth. But he couldn't drink, he felt so nauseous…

"Jake."

The suddenly calm voice of his grandpa pacified and terrified Jake all at the same time. Willing his paws to unclench, and his mouth to open, he swallowed what he assumed to be a pain reliever in one gulp.

"Good, Jake, good. Now listen to me, I need you turn into a human form now, alright?"

_But it'll hurt even worse… _The potion was taking effect, the pain was lessening slightly, and his vision was clearing. _Maybe now it'll feel better. _Jake concentrated, and his form began to morph back into a human.

Right then Jake knew he made a mistake. Never before had the transformation been so painful to him. The pain in his head, if possible, became ten times worse, his leg felt as if it were on fire.

His grandpa held him down as convulsions shook his body. He must have been hurt much worse than he originally thought. Blood was running down head in a little river, and blood loss was a given.

Jake felt another pair of hands, or rather paws, hold him down while checking his injuries.

_Fu Dog…_

As Jake's grandpa looked him over the best he could, all the while giving instructions over his back to Fu Dog, Jake focused on stopping the unconscious movements his body made.

Fu Dog sprinted over from where he was quickly brewing up a potion, carrying a bowl of sickly-smelling purple ooze.

"His head is where he is hurt the most." Lao Shi murmured, the thin veneer of calm only slightly covered his wavering voice.

Fu Dog dumped the potion over Jake's head. It filled his nostrils, and covered his eyes, and made his cuts sting.

"Ah!" Jake gave a start, then the potion seemed to disappear, seeping into Jake's skin. The pain lessened, though only in his head.

Lao Shi grabbed Jake's head and forced him to lay still.

"It won't do any good if you move around before it's all gone."

Jake obeyed. Soon he could see again, but everything else ached. The pain in his ankle soon eclipsed the pain in his head.

"M-My ankle." Jake managed to bite out.

He felt the cool sensation of something being poured on his leg soon after he said it, and he could feel the bones knitting back together. The shifting underneath his skin didn't faze him though, this is what his entire body felt like when he changed into a dragon. The feeling actually comforted him.

The ooze disappeared altogether, signaling that Jake's danger was over. He shifted, still hurting everywhere, but not the stabbing pains like before.

Jake sat up.

"What was that?" he asked, curious of how all of his injuries could be healed so fast.

Lao Shi sighed, Jake had given him a scare. "Special medicine designed for the human form of dragons. It only deals with broken bones and internal injuries though. Most of the rare ingredients were supplied by the forest pixies. It's going to take a while to replace. Now we have to get something else for your cut. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Only a couple hundred bruises." Jake stood up, still shaking. He gently touched the cut that ran across the far left side of his face, just missing his eye. He was lucky.

"Jake, howdid you get like this?"

"There was this _huge_ troll in the park. I'm not joking when I say it was easily the size of a giant. Maybe it was a giant-troll hybrid? Anyway, there was this dragon-"

Jake froze.

"Oh shit! The dragon! Gramps, we've got to hurry!"

Ignoring the residual pain in his body, Jake stood up and began searching for a container to pack the medicine in.

"What dragon? Kid, are you sure we got all of that nasty concussion you had?" Now Fu Dog was interested.

"We need some other medicine too, she's got a big cut on her side. I heard all this noise in the park and when I got there, there was this girl fighting the troll. I helped, but she's still hurt. A torn wing too." Jake was still rummaging around in the medicine cabinet.

"Did you recognize her?" Lao Shi asked.

"No, I don't think I've seen her before. Not even at the Summit."

"Interesting."

"Gramps!" Jake was already at the door, small tub of potion in his hand and bandages in another. In a few more seconds a ragged looking red dragon was standing in his place.

Lao Shi grabbed some plaster and splints, just in case, and leapt out the door, close behind his grandson.

* * *

"I don't see her." Lao Shi didn't doubt his grandson, but if her injuries were as bad as he said, she needed help soon.

"She's here, don't worry." Jake was at the battleground, searching for the blood trail that would lead them to her.

Sniffing the air, Jake could finally smell. His nose was fixed and clean of blood. He winced.

_Even a human could probably smell this. _Everything reeked of sweat and troll and blood.

After a quick scan of the clearing, Jake found the blood trail. Motioning for his grandfather to follow, Jake took the lead.

They followed the trail until they reached the small clearing where Jake had been confronted by the blue dragon. Looking around, Jake swore under his breath. She wasn't there.

Lao Shi looked on calmly as his grandson began to circle around, searching for a trail.

"Found a bunch of pressed down grass here. She must have rested. But where is she now?"

The Chinese Dragon also started to look around, wanting to see for himself this elusive dragon.

Jake huffed a breath of victory as he found a small trail of crushed grass and weeds. "Got something. This way."

Though he was still aching from his injures, Jake followed the trail, making sure to be noisy. He didn't want to scare her and have a repeat of last time. She scared him so bad he forgot about his wounds!

Jake limped through the trees, and found himself in yet another clearing. But in this clearing, a large pile of discarded concrete slabs with rebar sticking out sat smack in the middle. Large rocks that were most likely rejects from some sort of project also made up the pile, and the entire thing was covered in trailing weeds and ivy.

Of course, completely covered except for a small patch.

Curious, Jake carefully climbed the pile, making sure not to get tripped up by the rebar. The cool night air rustled by him as he sat near the exposed rock. The pulled-up weeds looked like they had been pulled down by someone climbing up.

Grinning to himself, he looked up. Just visible was a large hole in the pile, formed by intersecting slabs perched against each other. Vines hung across it, reminding Jake of those bead curtains his mom used to hang up around the house when doors were considered "uncool" with the modern moms.

Looking back at his grandpa still safely on the ground, Jake pointed to the hole. Lao Shi just nodded and started his way up.

Jake climbed up a bit more and paused in front of the cave. Brushing the vines aside, softly called to the blue dragon.

"Hello?"

A low growl was his only response.

"I brought a friend. We want to help."

Jake saw light glint off feral eyes near the back of the cave. He was surprised by how far it went back.

"I'm coming in now…" Jake put on a false show of bravado as he crept into the cave. He didn't know how she would react. Last time he'd done absolutely nothing and almost gotten his head taken off.

Teeth bared, tail lashing, and sounding incredibly pissed off, the blue dragon backed into the farthest corner of the cave.

"Hello." Lao Shi poked his head into the cave. The blue dragon just stared, looking defeated now. Apparently she knew that she fighting wouldn't fare well with her odds.

"Do you speak English?" Lao Shi asked, walking the rest of the way into the cave.

No response.

"Hablas espanol?" he asked, but got no response. He repeated this with several languages. Some of them Jake understood, like French or German. Some of them he had no idea what they were.

The female dragon seemed to know they weren't there to hurt her, but she still seemed to be ticked off at them. Jake figured he would be too, if he was hurt and two guys wouldn't leave him alone. And she obviously didn't understand them. There was no recognition on her face at any language. The only thing she showed was irritation and mistrust.

After what seemed forever, Lao Shi paused and shook his head.

"I… don't know." he said, and turned to Jake.

"Know what?"

"She doesn't recognize any language I know. And I don't mean to brag, but I know quite a few."

"She's not even trying to talk to us." Jake said softly, trying not to startle her.

The blue dragon seemed to know that they were talking about her, for she turned up her nose at them and sniffed, obviously peeved.

Jake smiled at her antics, temporarily forgetting the throbbing pain in his head. He yawned. It was a school night and he had spent the last few hours getting beat in to the ground. Plus, this cave was kind of crowded with three dragons crammed in. Wondering when this would be over, but still not wanting to leave, Jake decided to speed things up.

"We should probably heal her wounds." He said, breaking his grandfather's quiet observation of the blue dragon.

"Ah, yes."

Lao Shi moved forward to inspect her wounds, apparently a little to fast for her, as she hissed and the fur running down her back stood straight up.

"Gramps…" Jake warned.

"I see, I see." he replied, but still moved forward.

The female dragon seemed confused that Lao Shi was still moving for her, buts he seemed to make a mental shrug and just flexed her claws, letting the dull light shine off them.

"Do you have a human form?" Lao Shi asked kindly, stopping a few feet from her.

Her eyes narrowed. Now he was much too close. A low growl wound out from deep within the female's chest.

"To heal you, we need you to be a human." he continued.

After sitting there and getting no response, Lao Shi sighed and turned to Jake.

"Hold this, please." as he handed the bandages to his grandson.

The cave was deathly silent as Lao Shi straightened up and turned back into a human, hoping that she would follow suit.

Which, in hindsight, was not the best idea.

His grandpa had always changed very quickly, and in less than a second a short man took the place of a regal dragon. The dragon, sensing an opportunity, dove for the exit. Now she would only have to deal with one dragon, not two.

Jake, sensing dnger, ducked and pulled his grandpa down with him. Jake felt his spines rustle when she jumped over them, nearly braining him in her rush to escape.

"Wait here Gramps, I'll be back." Jack muttered before jumping off into the night.

* * *

She didn't get far, not really. It was very hard to run with injuries, Jake knew. She was limping, had a bunch of cuts, including the one on her side, and her wing was torn, preventing her from flying.

Still, it had taken a while to catch up to her, even with her limp.

_Thinking your life is on the line is apparently a great motivator._

Jake had taken his time, staying close behind her, letting the dragon wear herself out. When he couldn't stand the sound of her ragged gasping any more, he jumped forward with a burst a speed and blocked her path. She wasn't expecting this and flew into him, knocking them both to the ground.

Jake groaned. He had landed on his tender foot. Looking over, he saw her motionless form on the ground.

A shock of dread ripped through Jake. He hadn't been taking this as seriously as he should of… She was a person, no matter what. She couldn't understand him and she couldn't talk, apparently, but she was still a _person_. And now she was on the ground, not moving.

Really concerned now, and no longer goofing off, Jake crawled quickly to her side.

"Are you okay?" Jake breathed, heart pumping wildly.

He reached out a paw to her, when all of a sudden her eyes snapped open.

Opening her mouth and taking a deep breath, she exhaled forcibly and the next thing Jake knew, he was frozen to the ground.

_Wow. I didn't know she could do_ that.

As the dragon picked herself off the ground and shook herself off, Jake knew this wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

You like? All done with this chapter!

Ugh, I don't feel well… But anyway, do you realize that this story is almost a year old? In a month, I think, this will be a _year _old! Huh. And I'm still not done with it. Twenty-some chapters and one unfinished re-write and I still have no idea how this story is going to end. Eh.

Anyway, I made a fictionpress account and made a story there. I'm not feeling a lot of love there, in fact, no one has every looked at my story. So what'd ya say? Go to my profile and go to the link? Perhaps review and tell me what you think?


End file.
